Light Up
by echolock
Summary: Sakura is injured. Sasuke donates some of his blood, and then ponders what would happen if she had died, AngstRomance, because it's so much fun.


Light Up

Echolock

Another one shot, because I can. DO NOT QUESTION ME! It's a sasuxsaku that ran through my head after listening to "Run" by Snow Patrol several times. I'll explain more at the end.

As always "this" is talking, 'this' is thinking, and (this) is internal argument or a change of location.

I don't own any of this; if I did, it wouldn't be a fanfic now, would it? The song that inspired this and the show are property of their respective owners, and they deserve a round of applause. Clap for them!

Some OOC, of course.

Oh, and they're about 18. Mwahahah!

He sat on the roof of his apartment, a book in his lap. His eyes were moving back and forth across it, but anyone watching would have found it odd that he never turned the page. He just kept rereading the same part over and over again.

After about an hour of this, he shut the book, closed his eyes, and leaned his head back until his head was against the wall. 'Three weeks,' he thought. 'She's been gone three weeks. The mission shouldn't have taken nearly that long, even with all the complications they thought might happen.'

He stood and hopped down off the roof, heading in the direction of the gates. He had been there every day since she left, but never at the same time, so no one knew that he did it every day. Any given person saw him do it once, maybe twice. No one knew that he would stay there for an hour, staring down the road from the shade of the trees, hoping (no I'm not!) for a glimpse of that bright pink hair. He would tell himself that he was just relaxing there (right!) that he was just keeping an eye on the comings and goings of others, that he was just jealous of them that they could leave, but this was as far as he could go. Not a step further, because if he did, he would wake up a few hours later with a nasty headache and Tsudane glaring at him.

Today he sat in his normal spot and settled in immediately. He had been sitting there, watching patiently as he always did, when he saw a blonde head running towards the gates. 'Not what I was hoping for (I was not hoping!) but a good second prize, I guess.' Naruto had been gone for a long time on a mission with Shikamaru and Temari. Something about spying, the details he had managed to collect were sketchy and contradictory, but that was the one thing they had agreed on. 'Why they brought Naruto, I'll never know.' Then he looked again. Naruto was carrying a pink haired bundle that could only be one person. 'Sakura…'

He didn't even think about it. He ran towards them as fast as he could, completely forgetting that he was in direct violation of his parole. The last thing he saw before he lost consciousness was Naruto still running towards the gates. The last thing he felt was someone grab him and run with him.

He woke a few hours later, predictably enough, with a headache and Tsudane glaring at him. 'Damn it,' he thought, slowly sitting up and rubbing his head. "What?"

"What the hell were you thinking? You know the ANBU has orders to take you down immediately if you go past a certain point!" Tsudane was screaming at him, and he was sorely tempted to cover his ears to make the sound go away. His head was pounding now.

"He wasn't thinking. He was worried," said a voice from the next bed over. Sasuke looked over. 'Shikamaru… He looks kind of pale. What happened to him?'

"That may be, but he still shouldn't have run like that!"  
"Fine, I'm sorry, I won't do it again. Happy? Now, are Sakura and Naruto all right?"

Tsudane hesitated before answering. "Naruto is fine. Sakura…" She paused before going on. "Is badly injured. I can fix broken bones and giant gaping wounds, but blood loss is a lot harder to fix. I can help speed up the process, but by the time she got here, she had lost so much blood that she's probably going to die. And, by a twist of fate, there's no one old enough who has the correct blood type."

"What about me?"

"I have no clue, actually. The Uchiha's medical history was always kept a secret."

"Find out. You have my permission. Just find out as soon as you can."

"That I can do right here," said Tsudane, smiling a little. She put one hand over his arm, and he could feel the chakra in his system probing, searching for something. "And… Perfect match. What are the odds?"

"Good enough. Get to work."

Tsudane raised an eyebrow, but didn't say anything. This was the closest he had ever come to admitting he was worried about someone, and she wasn't about to discourage that. She left the room for a few minutes before coming back with a needle and several tubes. "Come with me," she said, walking down the hall. He followed her.

Sakura's room was quiet, almost deathly so. Sasuke looked at her. 'She's so pale and looks so fragile… It's almost like she's already dead.' He shook his head and sat in the chair by the bed. He wasn't even paying attention while his arm was cleaned and the needle was put in his arm. It felt weird, knowing his blood was leaving his body and going into hers. 'It's like chakra… But probably a bit more necessary to life. And you can't use it for anything.'

He sat there, watching her carefully, watching as some color began to return to her face. He was still there hours after they took the needle out and told him he was done, he could go home. He didn't go. He stayed, and just watched her. A piece of a song floated through his head.

_You've been the only thing that's right, in all I've done…_

He smiled sadly at that and wondered where he had heard the song before.

He didn't know when he fell asleep; in fact, he didn't even know he had until he looked out the window and realized the sun was out again. When he looked back at her, her eyes were fluttering open. He watched as her eyes opened all the way and she tried to sit up. He saw her fall back down, faintly groaning in pain.

"Are you alright?" he asked, standing up and stretching.

"Sa…Sasuke? Is that you?" she asked, her voice faint and strained. He rolled his eyes.

"No, it's the godsdamned tooth fairy," he replied, sarcasm dripping from his voice to the point that it was almost visible.

"I thought so…"

He smiled at her. "Thought I was the tooth fairy?"

She tried not to laugh. It hurt too much. "No, idiot."

"I know." He dropped the sarcasm. "Are you okay?"

"Some broken bones, maybe some other problems. Head trauma, internal damage. Possible punctured lung."

He flinched, knowing just how severe these problems could have been if she hadn't been found by Naruto. "What happened?"

"They found me. Tracked me down, and jumped me while I was asleep. Decided I was no use to them, beat me up, and dumped me in the middle of the forest. Probably thought no one would find me. I managed to heal some of the damage, but if Naruto hadn't found me, I would probably be dead right now."

He sat still for a second before putting his head down. "You'll be alright now, though?" There was a note of pleading in his voice.

"I'll be fine. I just need a few weeks to recover."

He paused before continuing. "I was scared, you know."

She looked at him, startled. "Scared of what?"

His normally stoic face cracked, and he looked up, his eyes shining with moisture. "That you wouldn't come back; that you were dead." He took a deep breath when his voice began to crack, and his control began to come back. I thought that maybe you would never return, that you would die and we would never even get to see a body, get no closure. And if that had happened, I never would have forgiven myself."

Her brow creased in confusion. "Forgive yourself for what?"

"For going with Oorichimaru. If I hadn't I could have gone with you, or at least looking for you." His voice began to crack again, and a single, solitary tear traced its way down his cheek. He stopped and took another deep breath. "I don't think I could have handled it."

He hung his head and looked down at his feet. He jumped when he felt her hand on his back. Her other hand cupped his chin and forced him to look up, and he was surprised to see that she had somehow managed to force her way into a sitting position. He stared at her, in awe of the fact that while she was clearly in great pain, she was still trying to comfort him. 'What the hell did I ever do to deserve her even knowing my name?'

His hand came up and touched hers, feeling the scars on her knuckles that she had gotten from punching rocks and boulders; moving up her arm, feeling the smooth skin there, unblemished by anything but a few scars, barely noticeable; to her hair, smooth as silk, and far more interesting to look at. He saw the tears in her eyes. Then she smacked him.

He looked at her in astonishment. She leaned down and whispered, "How did you think I felt when you left?" Then she grabbed him and kissed him.

Sasuke was amazed, as most people are when they get their first kiss. 'I should never have left,' he thought, kissing her back.

They broke apart after a couple of seconds and just looked at each other. She spoke first. "But I forgive you, Sasuke."

He smiled, wiping the tear tracks still on her face away. "Do you think that counts as a strenuous activity?"

"No," she said simply. "Not yet, at least." She smiled at him.

He smiled back, a genuine smile, before moving back in again for another kiss; he was surprised when she stopped him.

"No, that was all you get for now. Maybe when I'm back out of the hospital. Now get out before they kick you out; you need sleep."

"I do not!"

"Yes you do. I can see how tired you are. You look like you haven't been sleeping at all since I got back."

"I haven't," he confessed.

"Go home. Get some sleep. Doctor's orders."

"Yes, ma'am."

He left, but stopped at the door and looked back at her. "Get better soon; Naruto's worried sick about you."

She laughed. "I'm sure he is. And what about you?"

"Not at all, now."

"Good."

He walked out and shut the door softly behind him. The whole way home he looked somewhat distant, and stared at clouds. He even smiled, which sent some people scampering for cover, positive that the Apocalypse had arrived. He didn't notice. He was too happy.

(A few weeks later)

Her eyes sparkled, the brilliant green flashing in the fireworks.

Sasuke, surprisingly, had gone for the dramatic effect for their first actual date. There was a festival, and he had somehow gotten enough favors and bribes through to get front row seats to all of the main events, as well as a spot in the Hokage's booth for the fireworks. 'Although they may have more to do with the fact that Sakura is Tsudane's favorite student ever than the offer to help her cheat at poker later,' thought Sasuke, his eyes on her as she smiled more than he had ever seen before. 'Well, this is definitely a good start.'

Well, that was fun. Took me nearly a week and a day to finish it, but I think it was worth it. So, tell me what you think! Read, review, share it with your friends! For this is surely this is the greatest fanfiction you have ever read!

Just kidding. I just hope I managed to get across the feelings here with my leaden words and heavy handed use of the same words.

The little piece of lyric that ran through his head is from "Run" by Snow Patrol.

Of course, flames will be printed out and burned. Or eaten. Or used as tissue. Or… Well, you get the idea.

-Peace

-Echolock


End file.
